THE SIEVE, NETS & EVERYTHING, 1998

In a studio at the Beijing Art Academy with an Asialink artist residency, I adapted a process begun with the Morphic paintings, working with liquid colours brought from Sydney, Chinese black ink and lightweight mulberry paper.  The paintings were mounted traditionally with silk borders and grey-stained wood frames with curved corners.

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The Sieve and Net shapes were borrowed from hexagonal lattice screens in a corridor linking domestic pavilions with a traditional Chinese garden, an environment where I could imagine soft breezes and dappled sunlight filtering through as a play of energies in continuous circulation.

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The following notes in translation, are taken from my catalogue statement for a solo exhibition in Beijing -

‘I think you learn a lot by observing phenomena everywhere, especially in nature, where living patterns are not disturbed.  This is really a very simple idea that can be applied to painting. So that style is not an issue and it isn’t necessary to work hard to challenge tradition - you are already in the tradition of ‘seeing’. One just has to keep working, not only to keep on learning, but because you should not let go of the net that is being created.’